Nicholas CulpeperCritiques

Reproduced from an original edition published in 1826. Absolutely nothing has been added to these mid-1600's author's two works. The cover chosen illustrates from what this book was reproduced.

Not so good on practical herbal advice, but great for historical information or astrological associations (I can see fiction writers using this book as a reference). The modern annotations don't do a complete job of confirming or refuting Culpeper's recommendations.

However, I appreciated the introductory note about Culpeper being dedicated to bringing medicinal knowledge to the masses, as is solidified by passages throughout. I adored Culpeper's personality throughout his descriptions, between his insistence that the rich look out for the poor and his scathing rants about such things as common herbal naming conventions. I never thought an herbal dictionary would be so entertaining.

It's also a very pretty edition.

"... with three hundred and sixty and nine medicines made of English herbs that were not in any impression until this etc. "

great

This lovely reprint of the 1814 London Edition of Culpeper's Complete Herbal was first published in the US in July 1944 (from the description in the front of the book). It's a beautiful book, and although I doubt I'd use the medical advice in the book, the descriptions on how to save and preserve various herbs, and the sketches of plants and leaves, are still useful.½

I really don't buy that bit about the rabbit's liver, but the book itself should be an interesting reference.

This is a reprint of at least part of Dr. Nicholas Culpeper's herbal writings, written at some point before his death in 1654, but possibly published later (the book doesn't give a date). Every remedy has a brief description of the plant, a little illustration of the plant (I'm not sure if that's original to the book or just part of this reprint), and a description of its uses and astrological tie-ins. This edition also includes "modern" (as of 1979) herbal uses of these plants.

The best parts are his pithy and often mocking comments about some of the drugs and compounds.

Culpeper's is the first book of herbalism that anyone should have in their reference library. Absolutely lovely.

Lovely and still relevant (if almost ancient!) reference to the uses and beauty of herbs, flowers and plants of help to man-kind. Beautiful drawings, wonderful language and descriptions. Delightful to dip into and a great aid to research and plant growing/cultivation/harvesting, despite its natural bias towards the Northern Hemisphere.

Enlarged. Illustrated. Slipcase.

1st ed. Arranged for use as a First Aid Herbal by Mrs. Leyel. Hilda Winifred Wauton Leyel.